Alisha Diphda Toz - Tumblr Posts

Um, sorry, I have questions. 

Lunarre tells Sorey and Mikleo that he is no longer after Alisha. Presumably he made up his mind about this sometime along the way to Ladylake while being a highly unrealistic and convenient two steps behind the human princess, because Lunarre still referred to her as his ‘main dish’ before resuming pursuit in the previous episode.

Then again, Lunarre called her this in the prologue yet refrained from killing and eating his target, so honestly the term lost its meaning a while back.

But aside from the completely unexplained change of heart - remember, we know so little about Lunarre as a person that his transformation from human to hellion, from what we were shown, boils down to ‘because he’s loopy’ - where the ultimate question: 

WHY ALISHA?

Seriously, why her? What about her and her experiences is guaranteed a more interesting ‘spectacle’ than Sorey and the gang? If anything, Lunarre has deprived himself of infinitely more interesting conflict, drama and action by restricting himself to Alisha. Thank God this is the X anime and not the games! It’s only by sheer luck, plot contrivance, and an boosted Alisha focus that Lunarre gets to see some of the things encountered by the main cast that make him following her worthwhile.

Lunarre says he likes the princess, and in the dub elaborates that it’s her spunk and feisty attitude in particular that he likes. Aside from the fact that this is the man who not too long ago wanted the princess for dinner, how are these personality traits limited to the princess alone? Lunarre could easily find the same measure if not more of these in Rose or any of the other cast, who also struggle valiantly against adversity and despair. 

Rose, you would argue, would be more delectable to Lunarre’s taste (figuratively this time) as, in the anime, she wavers, she doubts, and she struggles enormously as her way of thinking and doing things is challenged. And she changes. But instead of turning into a hellion, as Lunarre would have expected, she dusts herself off and carries on. 

Alisha, on the other hand, never changes. She never wavers. She holds tight to her values and this works for her. From their conversation by the river in season 2, it is clear Lunarre cannot understand or relate to her.

And yet later we’re supposed to assume that his following Alisha somehow spurred the desire to do good within him. Sorry, I don’t buy it. Not only was there zero time to properly develop Lunarre’s character, nor a relationship between the two, but Alisha is precisely the wrong character to bring this change of heart about.

Rose, on the other hand, is the kind of hope someone like Lunarre could - consciously or otherwise - seek out. She has done many questionable and outright bad things in the past, her hands are definitely not the cleanest, and yet in spite of having her entire worldview turned on its head, she changes, and she does not give way to darkness.

So, with all that said, a final question:

WHY THE HELL DIDN’T HE FOLLOW ROSE INSTEAD?

A Hellion with No Purpose

I swear making Lunarre an aimless, wise-cracking Observer of All was the worst thing they could have done for his character. Even in the games he had a drive, while not particularly explored or examined, he at the very least had one. Namely, vengeance.

The anime, on the other hand, stripped Lunarre of his loyalty to, betrayal of, and ultimately his desire for vengeance against, the Scattered Bones and his former boss Rose. It stripped him, also, of his desire to pursue Alisha for longer than the plot would allow. Three episodes in and suddenly Lunarre is more interested in sightseeing along with Alisha than having her for dinner.

In so doing, Lunarre becomes little more than a stand-in for the audience. An observer with little to no influence on the plot unless the plot or, more specifically, Alisha focus, demands. He even outright declares himself an observer, and has little ambition to move from his solitary perch overlooking the plot at all unless pushed.

The rest of the time Lunarre is content with muttering to himself about what he sees and how excited he is, like a good audience-stand-in. As the Observer of All he adds precious little to nothing to the flow of the plot nor to his own character as the story progresses. It makes his sudden attempt at redemption at the end utterly baffling.

Lunarre also has a strange and utterly baffling habit of constantly questioning his own motives for being in whatever location he planted himself in, as if self-aware that his actions, as a fictional character, are controlled by the gods that are the Writers and so forth.

Unfortunately, it seems that Lunarre’s constant questioning of himself, even manifesting as rhetorical questions when asked directly who he is and what he is doing in such-and-such a place.

Example: In episode 20 of Season 2, Maltran asks Lunarre who he is. Lunarre’s response is quite literally ‘I wonder?’ It doesn’t occur to him to simply answer with his name.

From my perspective, there are two main problems with his anime portrayal.

Problem #1: His Brief Appearance as a Human

We are shown Lunarre as a human, working under Rose’s leadership as a member of the Scattered Bones. If the game is anything to go on, then like in the game Lunarre will have by this point been with the guild for two years.

This alone completely fucks with Lunarre’s identity crisis, as it appears.

He is onscreen as a human 54 seconds. I know, I timed it, including the time in which he was masked, fighting Alisha. 

From what we saw, Lunarre was loyal to Rose and a keen fighter, though unable to match Alisha. 

That, coupled with the fact that he is a member of an assassin’s guild and has likely been such for two years straight, calls into question how he could be anything but serious in his belief that he belongs to the Scattered Bones, that he is part of it. 

You don’t join something like an assassin’s guild for the luls, and you certainly don’t stay there two years when you’re not sure if it’s really the job you see yourself doing long-term. Rose certainly wouldn’t have tolerated someone like that in her guild. Game!Lunarre certainly considered himself a member until his behaviour got him kicked out.

So why does he leave? And why does he suddenly become the most uncertain man in the entire Zestiria universe?

Lunarre, as in the game, never removes his assassin uniform. He keeps his tie to the guild despite so abruptly and nonsensically leaving it, and he bears no grudge or ill will towards it or Rose. Neither what little we saw of his human life nor his transformation into a hellion give the audience any indication that he transformed and went rogue other than because he’s batshit crazy. 

Yes, there was a slight indication that Rose’s comment could have set him off, but it’s one comment, with no history of similar comments or treatment that might have made this particular comment mean anything. It certainly doesn’t give the weight necessary to give credence to the fact that LUNARRE BECAME A HELLION because of it!

If we had been given more insight into what could have been a mind steadily disillusioned with the assassin lifestyle, a man realising he is, for whatever reason (let’s say skill) the black sheep of the organisation. We could have seen how he feels belittled by Rose, perhaps, or underappreciated, or lacking in fulfillment. It would have gone a long way to explaining why Lunarre became a hellion after Rose told him he was ‘no match’ for Alisha.

Perhaps that is what they were going for, but it is so poorly conveyed it goes unnoticed under the maniacal cackling from the newly-transformed fox hellion.

Problem #2: No Time, No Effort, No Shits Given (Until it’s Too Late)

The identity crisis could have been a very interesting. it could have been a rare, intimate insight into a more in-control hellion’s mind. 

Lack of time and focus on him, even through other characters, who by and large forgot his existence until they discovered his dead body near the end of season 2, meant that his entire ‘arc’ was botched practically from the start. 

The smatterings of appearance he made only raised eyebrows from confused viewers, wondering what he’s still doing here. He either comments on what the audience can already see, or acts like a deranged lunatic simply content to watch cool shit go down. Only as the series draws close to its finale do the writers suddenly realise Lunarre exists and has had no resolution yet. 

Unfortunately, it falls flat on its face (much like Lunarre does as he dies) because there has been no build-up, no tension, no time or effort given to invest in his character before. Why should the audience give a shit now, when they have never been given a reason to prior?

When there has been no build-up, there cannot be any pay-off. At all. Only confusion, disbelief, and annoyance.

Thus, as the main cast inexplicably take time out to have a minute’s silence over Lunarre’s dead body, the viewer can only sigh and mutter “Can we just get on with it? Who the fuck is this guy anyway?”

My Re-Write of Lunarre’s Entire Anime Experience

Read this, and see how it differs from the nonsensical crap we got, separated into parts for convenience. Hell, it might be better. At least, I think so. I have succeeded if I can make you give a crap when you get to the end anyway!

Tell me what you think! ;)

The Man

In the prologue, we see the Scattered Bones preparing to ambush the princess Alisha and her bodyguards. One assassin, however, is restless, distracted. He is Lunarre, distinctly similar looking to the hellion he later becomes.

He is dutiful and obedient to Rose, but she can tell something is bothering him. In his mind there is turmoil, a conflict Lunarre stubbornly refuses to talk about.

Lunarre takes her comments the wrong way, and his anger grows. He recalls past words that only enhance his negative feelings.

Before the situation can escalate, the princess and her bodyguards are spotted.

The Monster

The ambush is launched, and in the ensuing fight Lunarre loses his mask and is ordered to retreat by Rose. When he refuses, he is told he is no match for the princess.

This sends Lunarre over the edge, and he transforms.

On becoming a hellion, Lunarre reacts. He finds himself filled with incredible power, power he never thought possible to wield. And he has it, right there in the palms of his hands. He doesn’t know exactly what happened to him, but it doesn’t matter.

Drunk on power, Lunarre attempts to finish what he started and attacks Alisha. Rose can see Lunarre for what he has become, and orders The Scattered Bones to attack him in response. Lunarre lunges at Rose, but seeing her face and hearing his name called out, stops.

He still retains a respect and fear for the woman he calls boss. He is still attached to both her and his guild, as joining them saved him from his previous life as a thief. He comes back to himself.

Shaken, he declares his time with the Scattered Bones is done, and he leaves before anyone can stop him

The Princess

The negative emotions that have created this form and given him the extraordinary powers he wields, chips slowly away at his sanity and he struggles to hold on. He is haunted by his confrontation with his guild, and repeated flashbacks of other bad times in his life, the former seemingly triggered by the latter. His newfound hellion form is fast becoming more of a curse than a boon.

He has no home to go back to, no family to speak of, no allies. He needs a distraction, and fast.

To this end he pursues Alisha, but finds himself unable to kill her after his confrontation with Symonne. His mind is confused, scattered, and her grief touches a sensitive, deeply buried part of Lunarre’s humanity, bringing back bad memories once again. Disturbed and frustrated, he leaves the princess to her sorrow.

Elysia

Unable to stay alone with his thoughts for long, Lunarre once again finds the princess’s trail and follows her to Elysia. His presence triggers the alarm among the seraphs, and he is confronted by the seraph Mason, whom he quickly defeats. Suddenly he is overwhelmed by the desire to consume his enemy in order to grow stronger.

Before madness can take over, however, Mikleo and Sorey arrive on the scene and interrupt him. An unstable Lunarre readily attacks the duo, channeling his bloodlust into the ensuing fight.

He has Sorey helpless, and is about to deliver the finishing blow when the fear in the young man’s eyes makes him remember the fear in Rose’s during their last encounter when Lunarre lost control. 

Lunarre hesitates, and this allows Gramps to intervene and confront the hellion.

Lunarre retreats.

Ladylake

He once more tails Alisha, telling himself that he means to finish what he started, as this will finally quell the bad thoughts inside him, when he knows full well he has no stomach for it. He knows killing Alisha will only make things worse, not better.

What Alisha is is an excuse to follow the path to Ladylake; if not his home town, then it a place with emotional significance to him. He seeks peace of mind, a purpose, a drive, and a grip on himself that he feels is slowly slipping away. He hopes returning to the city could help him find that.

Once in Ladylake, Lunarre visits his old home, or a similar place, where he finds that his instability only becomes worse. He remembers his childhood days, his time as a petty thief, the boring, listless days merely surviving day-to-day while being the bane of the city folk.

Feeling worse than before, Lunarre quickly leaves, only to be spotted by Sorey and Mikleo - fearing the hellion is targeting Alisha - in the crowds. They pursue him, not over the rooftops like idiots, but through the back alleys Lunarre knows very well. Lunarre is cornered and confronted about his intentions.

Here Lunarre admits he has no intention of hunting Alisha, but he dodges the question on why he really came to Ladylake. Sorey and Mikleo notice the hellion is depressed, and they have no idea how to deal with it. Before Lunarre was a highly dangerous, bloodthirsty monster, an enemy to defeat. Now he looks anything but.

Mikleo suggests they leave, but Sorey is compelled to stay. He wants to help, even though he doesn’t know how. He offers an ear to listen, but Lunarre stubbornly refuses and leaves.

The Shepherd

Later, at the ceremony of the Sacred Blade, Lunarre watches on from the shadows. He noticed the presence of Rose and Dezel earlier, but he wants to avoid them. He is intrigued by Sorey and Mikleo, however, and wants to see what will happen at the ceremony.

As expected, chaos erupts, and in the mayhem Sorey becomes the Shepherd and defeats the hellionised audience members. Lunarre is enraptured, excited, and desperate to see more.

The Journey

From this point on Lunarre decides to tail Sorey and his group. As he watches, be begins to grow attached to them and their struggles. He particularly focuses on Rose as her internal struggle.

Rose has blood on her hands, just as he does, has done terrible things in the name of her beliefs, and now finds herself questioning herself and her entire worldview, just as Lunarre does. For Lunarre, his boss has come to represent him and his own struggles more than the others. He is uncertain, however, and feels guilt over how be attacked her before, so he stays in the shadows.

Seeing her come out the other side is a great shock for Lunarre. He thinks, ‘holy shit, if she can do it maybe I...’

Game Changer

The turning point comes when the group first purifies a dragon, be that Ladylake or elsewhere. Lunarre finds himself overwhelmed by his desire to be part of their journey. Witnessing this feat, and all the good they have accomplished prior, have quelled the darkness within Lunarre and persuaded him that he is not lost. He realises, or rather remembers, the desire to do good, to belong, to matter, that caused him to join the Scattered Bones.

So, with some hesitation, Lunarre approaches the main group directly, and offers his assistance. He has no idea if he’s doing the right thing, but he’s willing to chance it. After all, what has he to lose?

Reluctant Hero

There is some wariness at first, especially from Dezel, Mikleo and Rose, but Sorey assures them that everything will be fine. Dezel reminds the hellion that if he steps out of line even once, he will pay. Lunarre accepts, glad to be accepted at all.

Lunarre then takes the opportunity to apologise to Alisha in a public display of humility that shocks everyone.

From this point on, Lunarre assists the group in their travels in whatever way he can, slowly gaining the trust of his more wary comrades in the process. He shares a heart-to-heart with his former boss and they make peace.

Despite his change of heart, Lunarre finds himself occasionally plagued by uncertainty, self-doubt and anger. He suffers from nightmares and flashbacks from his past. Sorey, Rose, Alisha and even Zaveid serve as helpful support in these times. 

Lunarre even begins to feel romantic affection towards Alisha, although he tries to hide it. Zaveid sees all, however, and badgers him to confess.

The End

The final battle arrives. After much reflection and preparation, our heroes ride into battle. Lunarre and Alisha, along with others, are the first wave of attack designed to clear the hellions blocking their path to the Lord of Calamity. There are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, too many for their small number to destroy. Not even the additional help of Sorey and the others can alleviate the hoard.

Sorey orders the remaining fighters to retreat, but Lunarre refuses. He knows a way.

Rose screams for him to stop, but Lunarre has made up his mind. Using every last bit of power he has, Lunarre draws all the remaining hellions to him and destroys them, killing himself in the process.

He dies smiling, at peace. He thanks everyone for everything they did for him in his final thoughts.

Alisha finds his body first, and the others arrive shortly after. They are genuinely, honestly grieved. Rose is the first to point out that Lunarre has returned to his human form at last.

Later, they bury him, and have a moment’s silence out of respect for their fallen friend. 

Lunarre at Ladylake (the X version, and its problems)

There are many odd things about this scene - and there are many - in which Sorey and Mikleo meet Lunarre again at Ladylake. All changes on Ufotable’s part I might add. 

Let’s do this. 

The Moment: Sorey and Mikleo look into the crowds and spot Lunarre, who is just standing there. He smiles when they notice him.

The Change:  In the game, the duo come across Lunarre by chance, thanks to a barking dog. Here Lunarre was literally waiting for them to spot him and give chase, which they do.

The Problem: This further confuses Lunarre’s reason for being at Ladylake in the first place. 

Was he banking on Sorey and Mikleo following him to the city? No - Lunarre was surprised when Sorey accused him of hunting Alisha to Ladylake, so he couldn’t have thought they were there for that reason.

Did he spot them from afar and decide to fuck with them? Most probably, though we never see it happen. Lunarre was clearly standing out in the open where he would be seen. But that opens up even more questions than it answers.

He wanted the two youngsters to chase him, and they do. It would make sense that Lunarre would want a rematch, their previous battle having been interrupted by Zenrus (Gramps). At Ladylake they could get lost in the back alleys and fight uninterrupted (as in the game, until the Scattered Bones show up).

That brings us nicely to the next bit.

The Moment: Lunarre jumps onto the rooftops of some houses and goes parkour on their arses.

The Change: Lunarre doesn’t take them through the alleys, but jumps absurd heights over rooftops like he's been doing it all his life. Hell, maybe when he was human and living as a thief (in Ladylake or elsewhere) he did - less absurdly, but he did. Would have been a much needed nugget of character-building.

The Problem: This nugget of character-building doesn’t happen. Neither does this change serve any purpose, especially since there is no payoff for Lunarre’s antics (e.g.: a fight - the rematch - or the appearance of the Scattered Bones). 

You’d think it would be in Lunarre’s character to want to roundly beat the two kids to finish what he started, not just show off his parkour prowess and see if they were stupid enough to actually try and copy him (Sorey). If Lunarre would have laughed his fox arse off as Sorey ploughs face-first into the roof of the opposite house, I think I would have taken the absurdity of the whole thing much better.

I think the entire scene was written in as a way for Ufotable to show off their animation skill. Hell, that might just be Lunarre’s entire purpose.

All he does instead, however, is look confused as Sorey actually does the stupid jump (no reaction when Sorey hits the roof either - inexcusable!!) and look more confused when Sorey starts accusing him of hunting Alisha. Understandably. In short the whole chase thing ends with a terrible anti-climax. No fight. No Scattered Bones either. Just a shouted chat over rooftops with none of the tension or atmosphere that was gotten from the alleyway scene in the game.

You’d think it would make sense to have Rose and the Scattered Bones get ahold of Lunarre here, as in the game. Thanks to the prologue of the anime, Rose has witnessed first hand a horrible change in her comrade and has reason to believe he’s dangerous and unstable. Yet after he abruptly leaves she literally forgets he exists. In the X, she wanders around Ladylake totally oblivious to Lunarre’s presence in the city.

Onto the next bit.

The Moment: Sorey accuses Lunarre of coming to Ladylake to hunt Alisha. Lunarre is confused, and denies it, saying he is no longer interested in hunting the princess. Mikleo asks him, naturally, what he’s doing in the city then if not to get Alisha. Lunarre responds that he simply has taking a liking to the princess, and wants to keep watching her from a distance to see interesting things. He reminds the boys that just because he has stopped hunting her, it doesn’t mean others will stop too, as there is a bounty on her head.

The Change: Shouting on rooftops instead of talking in an alleyway. No fight. Lunarre (off-screen) having decided to stop hunting Alisha and instead... stalk her, in order to see interesting things. Lunarre warns the boys about other assassins who will try to kill Alisha, rather than the Scattered Bones appearing on the scene, but is deliberately vague.

The Problem: Oh Christ, where to begin?

First of all: SHOUTING THE ENTIRE EXCHANGE FROM ROOFTOPS. SHOUTING ABOUT ASSASSINATING THE PRINCESS FROM ROOFTOPS. NOT QUITE THE BEST PLACE FOR IT.

Second: Why is Lunarre confused that Sorey and Mikleo think what they think about him being here? Surely he remembers how he referred to Alisha as his ‘main dish’ in their last encounter? Come on, he’s not the smartest guy in the world but he’s not that dumb!

Third: There’s practically zero tension in this scene. In the game, the scene turns dark as Lunarre’s presence looms upon the boys, trapped in an alleyway, before the fight breaks out. Here, they’re standing in entirely different points far away on rooftops shouting in broad daylight. Lunarre doesn’t want to fight, even though Sorey expected one. You just know nothing’s going to happen here except talking.

Yes, the music helps bring some gravity to the idea that Alisha is still in danger, but why rooftops, why no fight - whether Lunarre is hunting Alisha or not - and why is Lunarre being pointlessly vague about the situation? Surely it would be in his interest to help keep Alisha safe from said assassins (Rose) who still want to kill her.

Yes, he at least tells Sorey and Mikleo Alisha is in danger from others, but he knows who they are. He also knows they are in the city, after Alisha. You would think he would be more specific and give details that would be of more help. He wants to watch over Alisha, doesn’t he? He can’t do that if she’s dead. He can’t seriously think they’re a match for Rose as they are at this stage.

So then it would seem Lunarre doesn’t particularly give a shit about Alisha? He just wants to see how things play out and just be a spectator? He seemed ready to jump in and help out later on in his conversation with a captured Maltran, and he was none too pleased that Alisha was on the brink of death during the war, and seemed ready to do something if not for the malevolence that were, in his words, too much even for him. He also seems to like chatting to her. The dub even seems to suggest he might have a thing for her.

Why the inconsistencies? 

Why waste time fucking with Sorey and Mikleo if he wants to watch over Alisha? Hell, for all he knows Alisha could have had her throat slit by Rose and he wouldn’t have a clue. 

Why fuck with the kids if not to try and kick their arses like he was going to last time before Gramps intervened? 

So many questions, so few answers...

And another thing: Is being a hellion a bad thing or not?!

The X anime doesn’t seem to think so. At least, as far as Lunarre is concerned. Of all the hellions encountered in the series, he seems to be the only one who isn’t negatively affected by his hellion status, and his behaviour does everything it can to convince you that it is literally the best thing that has ever happened to him.

The Problems:

Lunarre transforms from human to hellion in a fit of what the audience can only assume is pure madness. Lunarre is laughing like a maniac even before he transforms. He showed something of a sadistic streak when fighting with Alisha, again before he transforms. From this we can see that he is clearly unbalanced - but we know Rose would not allow someone like that to join her group, and if we assume Lunarre was a member of her guild for 2 years as in the game... what the hell happened to push him over the edge? Never explained! Was he always crazy and good at hiding it until the prologue? Does the hellion state just make happy crazy people happier and crazier? The end of season 2 (and Lunarre’s life) would have you see that Lunarre is actually not a happy man. A lonely man. Then... what? WHAT?

There is none of the emotional baggage or turmoil or despair that characterises literally everyone else who has become a hellion in the series. There are very few occasions in the anime where Lunarre isn’t smiling, and the times when he gets angry and throws a tantrum are generally related to Alisha, for reasons that are never explained. It is almost impossible to connect these moments of discontent to the effects of his hellion state.

X!Lunarre has two expressions: Loony Smile and I Will Murder Everything You Love (And Probably Eat It Too), with very few exceptions - the majority of which can be described as Whut?. This of course follows on from the above point. 

Until the about-turn in the closing episodes of season 2, Lunarre is having the time of his life. Having immediately gained full control over his powers, he uses them as he sees fit. He vaults and jumps around and yells like a wildman. He’s loving every second of life as a hellion, when his brethren live in misery. Slight anomaly? It’s a nice juxtaposition with Symonne, but with no explanation or context or anything we can’t understand why this difference exists.

If Lunarre is the exception to the rule that being a hellion is bad for you, why? Why is he special in that regard? If Lunarre is not the exception, we certainly don’t see evidence to suggest the contrary. Of all the hellions the main cast encounters, Lunarre is among the few most unique and interesting. The anime, sadly, does nothing to delve into his character at all. There are so many more questions than answers.

The Zestiria Game:

Even in the game it was at least somewhat clear that over time Lunarre’s mental state was rapidly deteriorating, even after he killed and ate Mason. Things went really downhill after he was confronted and punished by/kicked out of the Scattered Bones. 

The End Result:

All of the above throws crap in the face of the sudden about-turn X!Lunarre’s character undergoes literal minutes before he sacrifices himself.  If his entire character was merely a manic force of chaos, where did this desire to do good come from? There was no arc to speak of, no gradual progression to something more grounded or honourable. The anime shows us a disturbed, unstable human who after approx. 54 seconds turns into an even more unstable hellion with no room for whys or wherefores. 

Ironically in trying to make Lunarre more human/relatable as a character, the X anime made him a useless audience-stand-in, all style and little substance. He becomes little more than brilliantly animated window dressing, more distant and incomprehensible to the audience that he had been even in the original game.

Further confuses the concept of hellions for the audience, especially those who didn’t play the original game. Lunarre is the exception to literally everyone around him, but there are no answers for the questions his existence brings.

Am I the only one who ships Lunarre and Alisha?

The more I think about my alternate anime verse in which Lunarre eventually joins forces with Sorey and the gang, the more I think about adorable little scenes with all of them.

Like Lailah, Rose and Edna being super jealous of Lunarre’s perfect poofy hair and aggressively trying to get him to spill his secrets. Lailah is also simultaneously in love with how soft and poofy the hair is so she is always trying to brush it for him. 

Sometimes Lunarre manages to evade her, sometimes she catches him and once that happens he can’t move. He has to sit there and let her brush his hair and sing songs while she does it while Zaveid and Edna make jokes at Lunarre’s expense.

Alisha does her best to protect Lunarre from the other girls, but fails.

Zaveid is upset because nobody is fawning over his own hair, so he acts lowkey jealous towards Lunarre and tries to divert attention from the hellion to himself. He fails.

Sorey and Mikleo straight up can’t/won’t understand any of it so they just watch.

「 よ , お姫さん !」

“Yo, princess!”

I like to think she’s screaming on the inside.

Does anyone understand how wet I would get if that man got that close to me? Wtf Alisha how are you not hot for that fox? You know what don’t answer that because fuck you princess he’s mine >:Y

This scene bothers me for a number of reasons, but this line really clinches it. 

Rose loves to go on about how much research she does on the people she’s contracted to take out. By that we can presume she did her homework on Alisha and her skill as a fighter. Rose knew she would have guards, so she brought more guild members to tackle them while others take on Alisha. All fine so far, but then...

Why the hell did she have Lunarre take on Alisha (alone) instead of herself, like she does later, knowing he is no match for her? She would surely have known in advance that Lunarre’s skills were not up to scratch like hers in order to fight the princess and beat her? Unless Lunarre threw himself in there against her orders - though there’s no evidence to suggest this happened - what was he doing?

He was clearly having trouble even when the fight starts, which goes to show he was not the man for the job. No, Rose doesn’t exactly finish it later, but she at least is in control and doesn’t get beat down like Lunarre does here. She is much more of a threat than Lunarre is, that’s for sure. Yet for reasons I can either put down to DUH PLOT or Rose’s fuck up, Lunarre is thrown into the front lines and given a job he’s not ready for.

While we’re on the subject, why did she not back him up - why didn’t the others back him up? They all leave him completely alone at Alisha’s mercy. Rose even asks why she didn’t kill Lunarre when she had the chance. UM? 

Oh, and telling him he’s no match just adds insult to injury, doesn’t it? We can only assume this isn’t the first time Rose has said something along these lines to him, otherwise him turning into a hellion just because of one comment would just reek of pettiness, not to mention stupidity.

It would seem that Rose’s capacity for tactlessness caused one of her own comrades to become a hellion. (Again). Hooray!

The kicker? She never mentions him again. She never mentions him, never goes looking for him, doesn’t seem to give a shit that one of her own turned into a hellion before her eyes (she noticed!). 

So much for ‘family’!

Alisha never thanked Lunarre for saving her life in the prologue episode. It's because of him that she survived Symonne and survived to see the rest of the series!

Granted Lunarre was planning on eating her (presumably) at the time but he never actually did it...XP

He still deserves a thanks damnit!! If she can forgive Maltran (game) then she can easily forgive him!

all the swaps in one!

Alisha vs The Scattered Bones... So Many Problems

Dazzling animation aside, the more I think about and watch this scene, the more ridiculous and problematic it looks. To think so many issues can be found in the first episode of an anime this visually spectacular baffles me even as I write it.

[WARNING: It’s long]

Since when did assassins attack their target when - in this case, she - is heavily guarded and armed herself? With all the research Rose is so proud of doing regarding her targets, you’d think they’d be in tune enough with her schedule to know when and where she would be most vulnerable to attack. Here, in this scene, she is in control and absolutely capable of fighting back. Rose apparently likes making things difficult for herself. They could have easily just snuck into her bedroom at night and slit her throat, as they attempted to do later with that dick prince. 

Why are they attacking in daylight, where their dark clothing counts for practically nothing? This really pertains to the above problem about attacking Alisha while she has means of defending herself. Assassins, at least by modern ideas, do their jobs under the cover of darkness as much as they can. Rose and her guild do the same, as we see with their attempt on the dick prince’s life, and in their espionage work. They’re not the assassins of old that attacked people in broad daylight in front of public eyes. If they didn’t, then wearing matching uniforms and coating themselves in black would be entirely pointless and only be to their detriment. In any case, they really did not make the most of their oh so fearsome powers of stealth as assassins did they?

So it appears the reason they all had to jump in out of hiding in the first place is because some guy fucked up and can’t hit a motionless target to save his life. We’re supposed to believe these assassins are feared? The knife sailed past her head by quite a margin, and was that really inteded as a killing blow, because it almost looked soft. I wouldn’t trust a dagger thrown from on high to take out a target - an arrow would be far more effective if that was the plan. Or was that knife throw intended to miss, as in the case in their game debut? If so, the entire thing was cocked up from the very beginning. There is zero benefit to alerting your target - the target you intend to KILL - to your presence before striking. And before you mention ‘oh but they have their honour, they couldn’t just attack a helpless target’, I’ll remind you how Rose drove a knife into the leg of Lunarre, a member of her so-called ‘family’, who was outnumbered and not hostile towards them, simply for speaking up. I’ll also remind you how they were almost killed Bartlow (game, manga) despite him being necessary and important to Ladylake regardless of his many bad deeds, only stopping when Alisha reminds them of the political, economic and even social impact this would have. In short, they are not as honourable as they like to think they are, nor is their honour-protecting reasonable. Here it costs them a mission.

Combining all the above problems, no damn wonder they have trouble fighting Alisha and her guards head on. With only daggers and nothing else at their disposal, once disarmed (and they inevitably are) they’re up against the wall with nothing else to do but retreat. Not only was Lunarre no match for Alisha (thanks Rose) arguably none of them were. Their weapons are best designed for their line of work - quick, silent and stealthy killing, not drawn-out combat. They seem to have forgotten they are assassins, not soldiers or warriors. And from what I’ve read online from weapon enthusiasts, a weapon with a longer reach, like a two-handed or one-handed sword, would be a far better match against a spear. As this scene made clear, the assassins and their daggers/shuriken were not cut out for extended close combat, especially not against spears. In Episode 3, Alisha wields a dagger, and so her battle with Rose is at least even-matched and can go either way.

The so-called ‘family unit’ of the Scattered Bones abandon one of its members (Lunarre) and leave him to fight Alisha alone, despite being (to quote Rose) ‘no match’ for her? From what I could see there were two other members besides Lunarre, one of whom being Rose, unless she was just watching it all from the shadows. They disappear almost immediately after he engages with Alisha, and for all appearances they retreated into the trees at that moment as there is no sight or sound of them fighting the guards in the background. As a result, when Lunarre is inevitably disarmed and rendered helpless, he is utterly at the mercy of Princess Alisha. Rose tells Lunarre to retreat, but neither he nor Rose has the means of protecting him if Alisha decided to cut him down. She could well have done, and at this point Rose does not know Alisha’s character enough to know she won’t kill him, otherwise Rose wouldn’t have bothered asking the princess why she didn’t do it. Rose should have called for Lunarre to retreat the moment she and the others disappear. Of course, he could have ignored it, but it would have made more sense. This problem can come down to lazy writing, Rose canonically not giving nearly as much of a shit about Lunarre as she claims to (in the game), or a combination of both.

Tying in with Point 5 - ALISHA SAW LUNARRE’S (UGLY-ARSE) FACE. Even MORE reason not to let her get out of the woods alive! A dead princess would tell no tales, guards included, and having them being able to describe and recognise one of her assassins is a ramification no assassin organisation worth their salt would risk. If they weren’t so horrifically equipped and outmatched, with practically everything including the environment dead against them, they would have the means to make it happen. Unfortunately, they had a damn big reason, but no means. 

Alisha’s BODYGUARDS entirely disappear from the scene the moment Lunarre starts attacking her. You could argue they’ve got their hands full with the other assassins - but there were only three assassins. Rose is already in a tree when Lunarre is attacked and subdued by Alisha, so it’s safe to assume the other assassin retreated also - so where the fuck were Alisha’s guards while all this is going on? They weren’t exactly having trouble with their opponents, and at this point in the scene they only have one, who retreats. And since no bodyguards are present to defend their princess... why the fuck does Rose not move in for the kill right here? Her and Lunarre against a lone Alisha would have a greater chance of success and, as previously stated, Alisha has seen Lunarre’s face so she kinda HAS to die at this point. Nope, the guards just come running back after the assassins leave. At that point Alisha should’ve gone “I COULD’VE BEEN KILLED WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? YOU’RE GUARDS, YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO GUARD ME!” She doesn’t, however, do this.

Lunarre turns into a hellion and pointlessly fucks off instead of trying to finish what he started. What was the point of that? Presumably he became a hellion because of Rose’s ‘no match for her’ comment - though a little build up and clearer showing of this would’ve been helpful blah blah blah - and he later expresses interest in killing/eating Alisha himself, faithful to his game personality... so why the fuck doesn’t he do it right there and then when Alisha is right there and caught off-guard by his transformation/behaviour? God everybody is this scene is so stupid it hurts! Everything is so obviously happening because ‘it looks cool’ rather than ‘it makes sense because x’. Not even the pretty animation can disguise it.

OK rant over. Time to play some Zestiria XP I might rag on the anime and aspects of the game, but I do love it - and that’s why I think I make these posts. It pains me so much because I still love the characters and the story of the game regardless of its flaws, and to see it given such a disservice in the anime adaption while at the same time given amazing animation just pisses me off so much.

TOZ Alice & Wonderland AU

CAST LIST:

Alice - Alisha (duh)

Alisha’s older sister/ or mentor/ or mother - Maltran

Cheshire Cat (er, fox) - Lunarre

Queen of Hearts - Rose

King of Hearts - Sorey

Knave of Hearts - Mikleo

White Rabbit - A white Normin?

The Caterpillar - Edna

Mad Hatter - Zaveid

March Hare -  Eizen

Dormouse - Dezel

Duchess - Lailah

The Doorknob - Mayvin

That’s all I got for now!